As the mother of a young man with mental illness, Joanne knows how hard it can be to get much-needed mental health treatment for a family member, especially when that person doesn’t think they need it. Joanne (not her real name) lives in rural Nova Scotia, where there is limited access to crisis teams and […]
Waiting for answers as the Lionel Desmond inquiry wraps up
Can we ever really know why Lionel Desmond killed his wife, daughter, and mother, and then himself? Does that matter? Don't we know enough now about all that went wrong in the years and months leading up to the murder-suicide to begin demanding change on all fronts?
Was Cpl. Lionel Desmond a victim of a foreign war, systemic racism and siloing of medical records, or was he a perpetrator of domestic violence who murdered the women closest to him? And how do we reconcile it if he was both? — Aaron Beswick Saltwire Network April 20, 2022 I don’t envy Warren Zimmer’s […]
HRM: 5,490 square kilometres, 20 public toilets
Morning File, Wednesday, July 8, 2020
News 1. Council needs to step up on fighting anti-Black racism, says Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard In a half-hour presentation to council yesterday, Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard called on the city to go beyond statements and act on combating racism, Zane Woodford reports: The presentation, titled “Unpacking Anti‐Black Racism in the HRM: Creating Sustainable Change […]
Take this volunteer “job” and shove it
Morning File, Thursday, July 2, 2020
News 1. The casino crapshoot Rob Csernyik has an incredible investigative piece on the casinos in Nova Scotia and how locals, not high-rolling tourists, became the big spenders. Csernyik looks back before the first casino opened by ITT Sheraton in the summer of 1995. A poll from 1993 showed that 57.7 respondents were against the […]
Not only the lonely are lonely during COVID-19
Morning File, Wednesday, June 17, 2020
News 1. Dead Wrong on Uncover Tim Bousquet’s podcast Dead Wrong, on CBC’s Uncover, is now live and you can listen to the first couple of episodes here. Everyone at the Examiner knows how hard he’s worked on this podcast for the past several months, but, of course, his work on the Dead Wrong series […]
Policing the pandemic
Morning File, Tuesday, March 31, 2020
News 1. Daily COVID-19 update: Community transmission has arrived The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. We all knew community transmission of COVID-19 was coming. Dr. Strang has said so repeatedly in his daily briefings. But I’ll admit I still felt a chill when I saw the news yesterday. Tim has the […]
Zombie ideas that won’t die
Morning File, Thursday, December 12, 2019
I’ve said this before, but when I first started writing for the Examiner, a friend asked how much Tim paid. After I’d replied, the person I was speaking with said, “Oh, so it takes [x] monthly subscriptions just to pay for you to do one Morning File.” I’d never thought of it in such bald […]
Treat your brain: get outdoors
News 1. Premier vs teachers, round 27 Premier Stephen McNeil returned from his latest trip to Europe and China yesterday, and pretty much immediately started in on the teachers’ union — this time, accusing them of spreading misinformation about cuts. A CP story in The Star Halifax says McNeil criticized the union Thursday for alleging […]
Let’s Walk: shifting the conversation from mental illness to mental fitness.
“Shame can be toxic and giving people the power to speak up is fabulous,” says Jackie Kinley. Kinley is a psychiatrist and an associate professor in psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Last week, Bell Canada contributed $6.9 million to various mental health initiatives through its “Let’s Talk” campaign. The goal is to reduce stigma around mental […]
Court Watch: mental illness and “not criminally responsible”
Decisions Codey Hennigar sentencing decision reminiscent of other NCR verdicts You can read the decision in Codey Hennigar’s case online here. Hennigar was found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder (“NCR-MD”) for the deaths of his mother and grandparents. Several outlets carried the story; here’s the CBC’s article. This week also saw Vince Li...